Dora's Christmas Cookies

Ingredients

• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 cup shortening
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 2 eggs
• 6 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
2. Mix together sugar, shortening or margarine, vanilla extract and almond extract Cream these together until light. Add eggs and beat well.
3. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt ( use 1/2 teas. if using margarine). Add to sugar mixture alternately with milk, ending with flour mixture. Dough will be quite stiff and may require mixing the last bit of flour in by hand.
4. Roll out portions of dough on floured board and cut with your favorite cookie cutters.
5. Place on greased cookie sheets and bake for 10 to 12 minutes . Test for doneness by touching lightly with your finger. If there is no dent, they're done. Cool and frost, decorate with colored sugars and colored frosting..
6. Note: If you like crisp cookies, roll the dough thinner. For more cake-like dough roll thicker and use metal cookie cutters. Originally we used Anise oil to flavor the dough (5 to 6 drops) in place of the vanilla and almond extracts. But my children prefer the extracts.

Butter Cookies II

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and white sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour and salt; stir into the sugar mixture. Cover dough, and chill for at least one hour. Chill cookie sheets.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Press dough out onto ungreased, chilled cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly golden at the edges. Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks.

Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tablespoon milk
• Powdered sugar, for rolling out dough

Directions

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Place butter and sugar in large bowl of electric stand mixer and beat until light in color. Add egg and milk and beat to combine. Put mixer on low speed, gradually add flour, and beat until mixture pulls away from the side of the bowl. Divide the dough in half, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Sprinkle surface where you will roll out dough with powdered sugar. Remove 1 wrapped pack of dough from refrigerator at a time, sprinkle rolling pin with powdered sugar, and roll out dough to 1/4-inch thick. Move the dough around and check underneath frequently to make sure it is not sticking. If dough has warmed during rolling, place cold cookie sheet on top for 10 minutes to chill. Cut into desired shape, place at least 1-inch apart on greased baking sheet, parchment, or silicone baking mat, and bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until cookies are just beginning to turn brown around the edges, rotating cookie sheet halfway through baking time. Let sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes after removal from oven and then move to complete cooling on wire rack. Serve as is or ice as desired. Store in airtight container for up to 1 week.

pempek palembang

Pem­pek Palem­bang is known as pub­lic food. We can find it when it was offered in a restau­rant nicely, ped­dled on a push­cart, or car­ried around a slum. Cer­tainly, there is a pem­pek seller in a school’s can­teen as weell, . As, It’s not only easy to make but also it can be enjoyed in every sit­u­a­tion as sweet. It con­sists of sev­eral vari­a­tions and appear­ances. They are pem­pek kapal selam, pem­pek lenjer, pem­pek ada’an, curly pem­pek, and pem­pek pistel.

No one knows where pem­pek from is exactly, because almost all regions of Suma­tra Sela­tan pop­u­lar­ize it as its spe­cial food. But, they say it has been in Palem­bang since 16th cen­tury. Title empek-empek or pem­pek is believed com­ing from title “apek”, a title for an old man Chi­nese gen­er­a­tion. The folk­tale which spread by mouth to mouth says that a 65 year-old “apek” who lived at the bank of Musi River was appre­hen­sive in wit­ness­ing plen­ti­ful cap­tur­ing of fish. The result of the cap­tur­ing was not processed well. The choice was only fried or pre­served with salt with­out dry­ing. The “apek” found an idea to try another alter­na­tive. He mixed grinded flesh of fish and tapi­oca until it results new kind of food. The apeks ped­dled the new food sur­round­ing town by bike. Because the seller was called “pek…apek”, so finally it was known as empek-empek or pempek.

As a culi­nary lover, you should be inter­ested in the recipe below:

Pem­pek Palem­bang Recipe

Ingre­di­ents:

• 300 g flesh of Span­ish mack­erels, grinded
• 100 cc warm water
• 1 tsp salt
• 200 g sago palm flour
• 100 g wheat flour
• 6 eggs, broke into a bowl

Soup:

• 750 cc water
• 5 cloves gar­lic, crushed
• 5 chilies, chopped
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 150 g sugar
• 150 g brown sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp vinegar
• 2 cucum­bers cut into cube sized pieces
• 100 g wet noodles
• 150 g dried shrimps, grinded

Direc­tions:

1. Mix flesh of fish, warm water and salt. Add sago palm flour and wheat flour lit­tle by lit­tle while mix­ing until it is mixed.
2. Form it oval (about 75 g); make a hole in the mid­dle by point fin­ger. Then turn it around while pressed until it becomes a pocket and put some broke raw egg in. Shut and close the hole tightly.
3. Boil some water and put pem­pek one by one. Wait pem­pek until it floats at the sur­face. Take them out and drained.
4. Soup: Boil some water. Put in gar­lic, chilies, soy sauce, sugar, brown sugar, and salt. Boil them and sugar was sol­u­ble. Fil­ter the dregs. Add vine­gar and mix it.
5. Fry pem­pek in much oil enough. Take them out and drain when they are brownish.
6. Serv­ing: Cut fried pem­pek into bite sized pieces and put in a plate. Add noo­dles and cucum­bers above them and pour the soup. Pem­pek kapal selam is ready to be offered.

Asian Omelette

• 6 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 1 cup brown or white rice
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped carrot
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped green bell pepper
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped red bell pepper
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped green onion
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped mushrooms
• 1 garlic clove finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce

Beat eggs, milk and pepper slightly; set aside. Heat oil in 8-inch nonstick skillet or omelet pan over medium-high heat. Cook remaining ingredients except soy sauce in oil, stirring frequently, until vegetables are crisp-tender. Stir in soy sauce. Remove mixture from skillet; keep warm.

2. Spray same skillet with cooking spray; heat over medium-high heat. Quickly pour about 1/2 cup of the egg mixture into skillet. Slide skillet back and forth rapidly over heat and, at the same time, quickly stir with a fork to spread eggs continuously over bottom of skillet as they thicken. Let stand over heat a few seconds to lightly brown bottom of omelet. (Do not overcook--omelet will continue to cook after folding.)

3. Spoon about 1/4 cup of the rice mixture on one side of omelet. Run spatula under unfilled side of omelet; lift over rice mixture. Tilting skillet slightly, turn omelet onto plate. Repeat with remaining egg and rice mixtures.

Apple and Brie Omelet

• 2 large Red or Golden Delicious apples - peeled and sliced into 1/4 inch wedges
• 8 large eggs
• 1/2 cup (4 ounces) Brie cheese - thinly sliced (melts better)
• 2 green onions - finely sliced
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 Teaspont salt
  
• 1 dash vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

Place apple slices in a microwave-safe container. Top with 1/2 of the butter. Sprinkle the nutmeg on top of that. Microwave on high for 3 minutes - stirring once halfway through the cooking time.

In a medium bowl, beat the eggs with the vanilla and salt.

Melt 1/2 of remaining butter in a skilet set to medium-high heat. Pour half of the egg mixture into the skillet. Cover and cook until set. Place this - the bottom half of the omelet - on a cookie sheet. Place apple wedges evenly on top. Sprinkle onion evenly over the apples. Place cheese evenly on top of that. Place in preheated oven.

Cook remaining remaining egg mixture in skillet as described above.

Remove bottom of omelet from the oven and carefully slide it onto a serving platter.

Place egg layer from the skillet on top of the bottom of the omelet from the oven.

Garnish with a little ground nutmeg and cut into wedges to serve.

Pizza Omelete

Pizza Omelette

• 2 eggs
• 2 tbsp water
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Cooking spray
• 3 tbsp pizza sauce
• 5 slices pepperoni
• 1/4 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese
• 1 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

Beat eggs with water; season with salt and pepper. Spray an 8-inch (20 cm) non-stick skillet with cooking spray. Heat skillet over medium-high heat.

Pour in egg mixture. As mixture sets at the edges, with spatula, gently push cooked portions towards center. When eggs are almost set on surface but still look moist, spread pizza sauce over half of the omelette.

Top with pepperoni and Mozzarella cheese. Fold the omelette in half and slide onto a warm plate. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.